New Kent County, Virginia Shoreline Inventory Report Methods and Guidelines

The data inventory developed for the Shoreline Inventory is based on a three‑tiered shoreline assessment approach. In most cases this assessment characterizes conditions that can be observed from a small boat navigating along the shoreline. The three tiered shoreline assessment approach divides the shorezone into three regions: 1) the immediate riparian zone, evaluated for land use; 2) the bank, evaluated for height, stability, cover and natural protection; and 3) the shoreline, describing the presence of shoreline structures for shore protection and recreational purposes. Hand-held GPS units are used to log features observed in the field. Three GIS coverages are developed from the GPS field files. The first describes land use and bank conditions (newkent_lubc). The second reports shoreline structures that are collected as arcs or lines (newkent_sstru). The final coverage includes all structures that are represented as points (newkent_astru). The coverages use a shoreline basemap generated in-house from the Virginia Base Mapping Program’s high resolution imagery and digital terrain model from 2007. The shoreline is re‑coded to reflect features and attributes observed in the field. The metadata file accompanies the coverages and defines attribute accuracy, data development, and any use restrictions that pertain to data